...race shouldn’t matter if institutions are genuinely committed to inclusion.

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We're all part of the human race.

But the whole article is worth reading, considering the number of reasons and believes people include for when they do (or don't) respond.

Here is the technical reason for the existence of said questions:

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Federal law prohibits discriminating against job seekers because of race. So why are applicants being asked to volunteer such information?

For compliance, mostly. Since 1965, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established to enforce laws against workplace discrimination, universities that receive federal funds have been required to collect and report records of job applicants by gender and race. This information is also used by campus HR departments to track applicant flow, and to monitor how successful they are at recruiting and hiring diverse applicants.

So there’s a reason these questions on gender and race typically appear on a separate form: That way, the application itself can go straight to the search committee, and the diversity information can go straight to HR.

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Here are a couple of the more interesting beliefs posited, more exist in the article:

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Irasema Ortega, an assistant professor of education at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, grew up in Venezuela. “When I came to the United States and started applying for jobs and saw these boxes, I thought, ‘What is this? What are they going to do with this information?’” she said. “I was suspicious and I thought to be asked to check off a box was demeaning.”

Others worry that racial data may be used to exclude them from candidate pools. One black Ph.D. from Purdue University, who is on the job market and asked not to be identified, explained that concern: “I used to check the box next to ‘black’ or ‘African American,’ but I never got interviews. Just out of spite, I’ve checked ‘white’ or left it blank, and I got interviews. When I showed up, I got surprised or disappointed looks. Those interviews didn’t last very long.”

For the US, it probably goes back to the slavery days. Whites, blacks, Indians, "other" and suchlike were seen to be important. Nowadays it's part of government snooping, trying to know everything about everybody. You can see it in data breakdowns at, e.g., the CDC or the Justice Department. HEW and HUD use the info as they hunt for fairness/unfairness.

Sure, we are all part of the human race. A nice sentiment, but in reality, people are still affected by preconceptions and judgements of inferiority or superiority exist based on the color of one's skin. If you aren't perceptive enough to see it in everyday life, browse the past posts in this forum for a few hours.

There's about six major races in the world. Race tells very little. People often associate race with ethnic and or heritage background. People often confuse nationality for ethnicity and or heritage. One can have Irish ethnicity/heritage, even if they're 4th generation American nationality.

One can physically look Caucasian but may as well hold ethnicity from Asia Minor. Specifically, one could theoretically have ginger hair and blue/green eyes, and exhibit Nordic/Caucasus/West European looks but could very well be Turkish, as these types of people do exist but are a minority. In other words, don't judge a book by its cover. Do I think filling out a box is wrong? In a way. Hiring managers may have bias and the applications of racial minorities such as Blacks or East Asians go into the junk pile, while Latin/Hispanics may only be considered for menial labor tasks.

The concept of "Race" has no basis in the sciences. It is a word often used where ethnicity should be placed. Eye, hair, skin color - traditional makers of "race" - are, genetically, very recent adaptations in the human and can change rapidly (in evolutionary scale) due to environment and other external forces.

A bulk of the larger firms I've applied to also ask for your sex, religious belief and sexual orientation as well as your ethnic background, I think I applied to the BBC once and this was asked, they will probably write a code to promote those candidates.

A bulk of the larger firms I've applied to also ask for your sex, religious belief and sexual orientation, I think I applied to the BBC once and this was asked, they will probably write a code to promote those candidates.

IIRC the BBC designates some jobs specifically based on characteristics such as race. I think this is probably illegal in the UK so they claim they are internships but presumably people with internship experience are much more likely to get a real job which is open to all races (in theory).

IIRC the BBC designates some jobs specifically based on characteristics such as race. I think this is probably illegal in the UK so they claim they are internships but presumably people with internship experience are much more likely to get a real job which is open to all races (in theory).

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